caissevscesseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“caisse” and “cesse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,410
“caisse” frequency rank
#2,464
“cesse” frequency rank
4874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caisse cesse
Definition Contenant rigide, de forme cubique ou parallélépipédique, constitué par l'assemblage de panneaux pleins ou à claire-voie, dans lequel on peut mettre des objets, pour les stocker ou les transporter. Fin, relâche.

Where the eye mixes caisse and cesse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
caisse
5 ch
cesse

Why the eye confuses caisse with cesse

A purely visual mix-up. caisse (\kɛs\) and cesse (\sɛs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caisse is recorded at frequency rank #2,410, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɛs\. cesse is at rank #2,464, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛs\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 4874, this pair ranks #430,464 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caisse vs cesse

Shared letters: ces. Private to "caisse": ai. Private to "cesse": -.

"caisse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "cesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caisseacisse · caise · caises · casise · ccaisse · ciasse
  • cesseccesse · ceses · csese · ecsse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caisse" and "cesse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɛs\ versus \sɛs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caisse" or "cesse"?
"caisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,410 in our French list, against #2,464 for "cesse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,464 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caisse" and "cesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caisse vs causses". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #430,464 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list